Town Hall 2012

*I bolded the stuff I thought you'd find interesting if you just want to skim through

Hey everyone. I was recently employed part-time for MLSE and as such I received an invite to Town Hall 2012. For those who don't know Town Hall is an event to celebrate new and current employees of MLSE.

At this event MLSE talked about they're new vision or "The New Era" as they put it. In the past MLSE was accused of only having profit on mind and not caring what happened on the court. This "New Era" under new ownership is now focused on the direction of winning on the ice, court, and field.

Anyways enough boring you and onto the stuff you want to hear. At the event GMs of all 3 Toronto teams (Maple Leafs, Toronto FC, and the Raptors) were there to speak to us as well as Dwayne Casey being a special guest speaker. I'm just going to point out some of the interesting stuff they said regarding the Raptors, some you already know and some you may not.

Bryan Colangelo:
- Raptors envisioning playoff spot this season, not guaranteed or promised, but with the young talent they feel a playoff spot is not out of the equation
- Jonas will be the center of the future. Will not be putting up monster numbers right away, will have a similar role to that of his role on Lithuanian national team in first year (energy, run the floor, athletic around the rim)
- Lowry will be pushing Jose for the starting spot (meaning they will compete for the starting spot during training camp)
- Fields is a great character guy that fans will love and embrace. His personality is one of a kind.
- Raptors and other teams around the league feel highly about Terrance Ross, and he has received a few trade offers for Ross in which he was the main piece teams wanted.
- Bryan Colangelo is referred to as "Tall Bryan" by Brian Burke and other suits in MLSE

Dwayne Casey:
- Raptors goal is the playoffs, have their eyes set on it
- Talked about improvement on defence in which the Raptors were top 5 in many categories and had the #1 most improved defence in the league (30th to 7th overall)
- Teams foundation and focus remains defence and toughness, but knows offence must improve to get wins. Looking to push the tempo on offence fueled by defence
- Lowry brings toughness on both ends of the court that the Raptors need and feels it is a great improvement ("Lowry is a pitbull at PG")
- At the teams first meeting (for the season) Andrea Bargnani was the first person to step up and speak on what he and the team need to do to improve on (Casey says he nearly fell out of his chair)
- Each player on the team receives a card that has 5 roles (e.g. scorer, stopper, finisher, hustle, passer, etc) that each player must do every night on the court
- The team always wears their Raptors gear on the road when entering hotels and stuff like that to show pride for the organization and the team

Unrelated stuff:
- Brian Burke knew that the time for last calls in Halifax (where Raptors will be for training camp this year) is at 4am
- Burke is the funniest of the 3 GMs that spoke, he was the most interesting and really spoke the truth about players and other topics
- Leafs looking to be a hard hitting tough team
- Toronto FC not afraid to spend big dollars to go after key players. Feels it is only a few pieces away from competing (for a playoff spot I assume)

All in all it really seems like the organization is going in the direction of being dedicated to fans and providing winning products. I hope this helps since news around is kinda slow this time around.

Good stuff. Thanks for this. I'm so in on the Dwayne Casey era that I've almost forgot about Triano. Encouraging stuff about Bargs, nice to hear Val won't get a ton of pressure from management, and good to hear DC is committed to D still even though media keeps saying O needs attention. Not shocking to hear Burky enjoys a cocktail. Not shocking at all. A bit of a lol @ BC who continues to defend the horrible Fields deal - something he'll have to do for the rest of his tenure.

...All in all it really seems like the organization is going in the direction of being dedicated to fans and providing winning products. I hope this helps since news around is kinda slow this time around.

Good stuff. Thanks for this. I'm so in on the Dwayne Casey era that I've almost forgot about Triano. Encouraging stuff about Bargs, nice to hear Val won't get a ton of pressure from management, and good to hear DC is committed to D still even though media keeps saying O needs attention. Not shocking to hear Burky enjoys a cocktail. Not shocking at all. A bit of a lol @ BC who continues to defend the horrible Fields deal - something he'll have to do for the rest of his tenure.

Guys hitting shots will make a world of difference.
Four guys in the starting lineup capable of hitting 80-90% of their free throws is huge as well (Bargnani, DeRozan, Lowry, and JV).

Casey ran some decent stuff last year, guys just didn't hit open shots.

I wonder who/what the trade offers were for Ross? I wonder if he was the price to pay for a significant wing upgrade, such as Gay/Iggy/Deng/etc... or if it's just teams 'kicking the tire' since they know the Raptors are so deep at SG (DeRozan, Fields, Ross). I'm guessing teams would start out by asking for Ross rather than DeRozan, given that DeRozan has been a bit of a disappointment, shown marginal improvement and is a season away from likely getting a big raise.

I'm intrigued by the Bargnani comment. Even last year I noticed that he seemed to have a lot more confidence and seemed to be much more vocal and assertive. Perhaps he's finally comfortable with his place/role on the team, has a strongers grasp of English and realizes that he's now one of the Raptors' veteran players, so he needs to step up on and off the court. I know I've always been a Bargnani supporter, but I really hope that he stays healthy, assumes a leadership role and shows that last year's improved play wasn't just a flash-in-the-pan. It would be great for him and for the entire Raptors team if it comes to fruition.

I wonder who/what the trade offers were for Ross? I wonder if he was the price to pay for a significant wing upgrade, such as Gay/Iggy/Deng/etc... or if it's just teams 'kicking the tire' since they know the Raptors are so deep at SG (DeRozan, Fields, Ross). I'm guessing teams would start out by asking for Ross rather than DeRozan, given that DeRozan has been a bit of a disappointment, shown marginal improvement and is a season away from likely getting a big raise.

I'm intrigued by the Bargnani comment. Even last year I noticed that he seemed to have a lot more confidence and seemed to be much more vocal and assertive. Perhaps he's finally comfortable with his place/role on the team, has a strongers grasp of English and realizes that he's now one of the Raptors' veteran players, so he needs to step up on and off the court. I know I've always been a Bargnani supporter, but I really hope that he stays healthy, assumes a leadership role and shows that last year's improved play wasn't just a flash-in-the-pan. It would be great for him and for the entire Raptors team if it comes to fruition.

That and that also correlates to his overall confidence as well, in my opinion.

Oh yeah.... forgot to mention Casey and the 5 role cards. I think that is great. How many times in the NBA do you hear of players saying, "I dunno what the problem is. Coach doesn't talk to me." or "I don't know my role."

I really do feel Casey is the right coach at the right time for Toronto. He is appears to be a phenomenal teacher and communicator. At the professional level, that might even be more important than x's and o's.

Not to be overly cynical but the only thing new here (to my count) and thats trade offers for Ross, which part of me feels was probably the inital Lowry trade (predraft) that was talked about in the media. (No evidence of that just assumption)

But as with anything that comes from BC, or from this organization in genearl, take it with a grain of salt.

- Bargnani mentioned the things him and his team need to improve on? Yep he does that every year. Waiting for the day he follows through with it
- Lowry will compete with Jose for the starter role? I'll believe there is a chance a guaranteed lottery pick was just traded for a back up PG when I see it
- Raps are the most improved defensive team in a couple categories. Ofcourse we include their trade off of giving up FTs that changes.
-Casey likes the improvement at PG, which kind of gives a counter impression to Colangelo's statement of 'competition' no?

I'll leave it at that, but it sounded like a usual banter to the public/media

I wonder who/what the trade offers were for Ross? I wonder if he was the price to pay for a significant wing upgrade, such as Gay/Iggy/Deng/etc... or if it's just teams 'kicking the tire' since they know the Raptors are so deep at SG (DeRozan, Fields, Ross). I'm guessing teams would start out by asking for Ross rather than DeRozan, given that DeRozan has been a bit of a disappointment, shown marginal improvement and is a season away from likely getting a big raise.

I'm intrigued by the Bargnani comment. Even last year I noticed that he seemed to have a lot more confidence and seemed to be much more vocal and assertive. Perhaps he's finally comfortable with his place/role on the team, has a strongers grasp of English and realizes that he's now one of the Raptors' veteran players, so he needs to step up on and off the court. I know I've always been a Bargnani supporter, but I really hope that he stays healthy, assumes a leadership role and shows that last year's improved play wasn't just a flash-in-the-pan. It would be great for him and for the entire Raptors team if it comes to fruition.

I don't think the trade talks for Ross involved going after Gay/Iggy or names of that nature. He said Ross was the 'main' piece teams were looking to acquire and I doubt a rookie and some no names would suffice for Gay/Iggy/etc. I assume from teams that were hoping Ross would fall to them later in the draft.

As for the Bargnani comment, Casey talked about the foundation of trust and all that 'Pound The Rock' stuff (another point I forgot to mention the rock actually breaks if you pound it enough) and how it helped them all come together as a unit on and off the court. I think it has had a significant impact on Bargnani knowing that he has the faith of his coach and teammates.

Craiger wrote:

Not to be overly cynical but the only thing new here (to my count) and thats trade offers for Ross, which part of me feels was probably the inital Lowry trade (predraft) that was talked about in the media. (No evidence of that just assumption)

But as with anything that comes from BC, or from this organization in genearl, take it with a grain of salt.

- Bargnani mentioned the things him and his team need to improve on? Yep he does that every year. Waiting for the day he follows through with it
- Lowry will compete with Jose for the starter role? I'll believe there is a chance a guaranteed lottery pick was just traded for a back up PG when I see it
- Raps are the most improved defensive team in a couple categories. Ofcourse we include their trade off of giving up FTs that changes.
-Casey likes the improvement at PG, which kind of gives a counter impression to Colangelo's statement of 'competition' no?

I'll leave it at that, but it sounded like a usual banter to the public/media

I was more amazed at the fact that Bargnani was the first one to do it, and to do it in front of the whole team and coaching staff. That's not something he would've have done a few years ago and it shows improvement as a leader. You also misinterpreted Casey's comment on Lowry. He said he likes the toughness upgrade to the team, not really saying they got an upgrade at starting PG, even though that may be the case.

I was more amazed at the fact that Bargnani was the first one to do it, and to do it in front of the whole team and coaching staff. That's not something he would've have done a few years ago and it shows improvement as a leader. You also misinterpreted Casey's comment on Lowry. He said he likes the toughness upgrade to the team, not really saying they got an upgrade at starting PG, even though that may be the case.

"- At the teams first meeting (for the season) Andrea Bargnani was the first person to step up and speak on what he and the team need to do to improve on (Casey says he nearly fell out of his chair)
- Each player on the team receives a card that has 5 roles (e.g. scorer, stopper, finisher, hustle, passer, etc) that each player must do every night on the court
- The team always wears their Raptors gear on the road when entering hotels and stuff like that to show pride for the organization and the team"

my 3 favourite points.

1. teammates of several years would have been as shocked as casey, and respectful to see bargs up first and open.
2. 5 things to focus on a game and discuss/practice with coaching staff and others with same card lists means that players will be focusing with different players and coaches making great relationships with all of their teammates for team/chemistry building
3. my favourite. team pride. you are everywhere representing the raptors and doing it together. downtown new york/philly/los angeles, you are there as a raptor.

That was a great read thanks. It seems sometimes that it looks like AB doesn't care about the team, but last season and this article shows the guy cares and wants to win. I'm feeling pretty good after reading this...

That was a great read thanks. It seems sometimes that it looks like AB doesn't care about the team, but last season and this article shows the guy cares and wants to win. I'm feeling pretty good after reading this...

To me it was the early part of last season, but after what he did for the remainder of last season after getting injured, it's really good to hear that he has his mindset back into things.